| Title | Perdita Speaks |
| Artist / Creator | Anita Bigelow |
| Place of Publication | Portland, Oregon |
| Publication Date | 2016 |
| Contributors | Photographs of structure by Courtney Frisse |
| Process / Technique | Original calligraphy |
| Structure / Binding | Tunnel book presented in a clamshell box |
| Medium / Materials | Acrylic paint based paste paper on the Arches Text wove; Duo book cloth (Laguna blue/green); acrylic inks and paint; color pencil; leather scraps, aluminum can scraps, eyelets, small diameter steel rods; Tyvek for colophon/strap |
| Paper Stock | Daler-Rowney Canford Card; Arches Text Wove papers |
| Number of Pages | 8 panels |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 5 x 4.25 x 1.75 inches closed. Extends out to 13 inches. |
| Edition Size | Unique |
| Box / Wrapper | Clamshell box |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed by the artist |
Within its creaking plot turns (lost princess reappears disguised as shepherdess!) and off-stage theatrics (man eaten by bear!), The Winter's Tale contains, as always with Shakespeare, dazzling verbal flashes, one of which is Perdita's description, in Act IV, of Proserpina's spring flowers: lilies, primroses, violets—and daffodils. The daffodils prove surprisingly brave, to "come before the swallow dares," and amazingly powerful, to "take the winds of March with beauty." Of all the flowers in the bouquet, it is the bold daffodils I fell in love with, and their lines in Perdita's speech are the sole text of my theater-like tunnel book, Perdita Speaks. However, the daffodils need the winds of March to manifest the power of their beauty, and here my little theater needs the collaboration of its audience, its readers. Please, dear readers, blow gently into the little theater: I trust your breath will give sparkle to Shakespeare's imagery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2E_aWHgG_g&feature=em-share_video_user
Artist Bio
Anita Bigelow, nee Lourie, was a literature major at Reed College and then, ten years later, at Portland State University. Anita originally studied calligraphy with Lloyd Reynolds at Reed. She briefly attended the San Francisco Art Institute as a printmaker and there had the good fortune to take a typography class from Jack Stauffacher. Only recently has she been assiduous in the practice of calligraphy, enjoying classes from Rebecca Wild, Carol DuBosch, and Colleen Cavin, along with as many workshops as possible. More recently she has discovered a love of book binding and the possibility of making artists books, a love discovered in a PSU book arts class taught by Susan Harlan, and furthered in workshops with, among others, Tim Ely and Carol Barton.